A 2-DOF manipulator for micro-assembly in a minifactory
Abstract
This paper presents a new 2-DOF “SMACbot” manipulator which can cooperate with a 2-DOF planar “courier” robot to perform precise assembly tasks within a minifactory. The SMACbot manipulator augments the function of an off-the-shelf rotary/linear actuator from SMAC Corporation. The mechanical and electrical systems of SMACbot are described, and the sensing and control of the manipulator are introduced. Novel features include a vacuum system for compensating the vertical axis weight of the SMACbot and an air bearing system for minimizing friction. The SMACbot utilizes a remote user interface based on web sockets. Basic motion control performance of the SMACbot was measured with a laser interferometer to provide ground truth. The vertical (z-direction) 5 mm fixed distance motion repeatability test results showed the average error is 8.4 μm. The 10 μm small distance motion error is approximately 0.3 μm. The 0.5° fixed angle rotation motion repeatability error is approximately 0.12° which is mainly caused by the backlash of the reduction gearing of the SMAC rotational (θ) axis.
BibTeX
@conference{Zhang-2016-122028,author = {Jun Zhang and Ralph Hollis},
title = {A 2-DOF manipulator for micro-assembly in a minifactory},
booktitle = {Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO '16)},
year = {2016},
month = {December},
pages = {1582 - 1587},
}